Looking to gain a political foothold in several of the battleground states, President Barack Obama and former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney begin the final weekend of their closely matched campaign trail on Saturday.

The national polls reveal that the race for the popular vote between the two candidates is so close that only a point or two actually separate the political rivals.  The margin between Obama and Romney had began to shift after many believed that the Democrat underperformed at the first presidential debate on Oct. 3. 

Nonetheless, the Republican party has indeed acknowledged that Romney hasn't been as successful as he'd hoped in terms of gaining the ground needed in pivotal states that include Ohio and Wisconsin.  Thus leaving the Republican candidate with an increasingly difficult path to obtain the 270 electoral votes required for presidency. 

In order to garner the advantage come the Nov. 6 election, Romney must end up more effective in the nine most-contested swing states, which are Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Nevada, Wisconsin, Iowa and New Hampshire. 

After having both small and middle-sized rallies for a large portion of the campaign, the President and his team are looking to showcase a series of larger events this upcoming weekend.  The Obama camp will aim to garner a massive crowd in the battleground states.  However, the campaign isn't slated to draw an audience in quite the same amounts that he pulled in during the 2008 presidential race in which his rallies lured in 50,000-plus individuals.

The President will also be accompanied by Bill Clinton during two joint events over the weekend, which are a Saturday night rally in Virginia and a Sunday event in New Hampshire.  Earlier in the week, Obama and the former President had planned to hit three states on the campaign trail together.  However, the trek was cancelled due to the presence of Hurricane Sandy.

Tags: 2012 presidential election